"Delay is natural to a writer. He is like a surfer—he bides his time. Waits for the perfect wave on which to ride in. He waits for the surge (of emotion? of strength? of courage?) that will carry him along." (E.B. White, The Paris Review Interviews, 1969)

10.03.2006

Looks like the FBI knew a bit about this for months. My feeling is this is going to get much worse. The Washington Post has a pretty dramatic lineup of information that shows some serious dysfunctional stuff going down across the Potomac. Illustrates the inside-out nature of Ciceronian sympathy. When you think you have black boxed the discourse (Liberals=Democrats=Bad for All Time), you are subject to the enthymematic assumptions (liberal=sexual libertine, etc.). The migration to electrate practices allows a new level of speed, but does NOT evaporate as quickly as speech. Electracy is NOT secondary orality.

*snip*FBI Knew in July About Foley E-Mails to Teen...Also yesterday, ABC News posted on its Web site instant messages -- reportedly between Foley and another former House page -- in which the lawmaker repeatedly tried to set up a dinner date and indicated that the boy had spent time with him in San Diego. Previously disclosed messages had not indicated that Foley was trying to make personal contact with the boys, who had served as runners and helpers for a year in Washington

...An FBI official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said the field office concluded that the e-mails "did not rise to the level of criminal activity." The bureau announced Sunday that it would begin a preliminary investigation into Foley's more explicit electronic exchanges with teenagers.

...Hastert noted that the 2005 e-mails to the Louisiana teenager were ambiguous. In one, Foley asked the boy to send a picture of himself, which reportedly alarmed the youth and his parents. Hastert agreed yesterday that an adult's request for a teenager's photo "would raise a red flag." But he said he would not second-guess his party's handling of the situation.

The boy's parents approached the office of Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.) in late 2005, asking that Foley stop contacting their son and that the matter be kept quiet, according to House accounts.

Reynolds, who chairs his party's House campaign committee, and Majority Leader John A. Boehner (Ohio) were among prominent Republicans who also knew of the parents' concerns earlier this year. But the matter was left to Rep. John M. Shimkus (R-Ill.), who chairs the House Page Board, and then-House clerk Jeff Trandahl, also a board member.*/snip*

10.01.2006

Extimacy has been around for quite a while, but Internet innovations like IMing and chat reveal electrate consequences. From the GOP page-gate headlines*snip*Many more, and much seamier, message exchanges began to pour in to ABC. Some were mildly crude. "Do I make you a little horny?" Foley is said to have asked one page. Others show Foley, under the signer Maf54, engaged in graphic Internet sex with minors, ABC reported. During one session a page instant-messages Maf54, "brb [be right back] ... my mom is yelling."*/snip*